Garden Center at North Austin #6839

On a fresh fall day, take advantage of the weather to do a second round of planting and outdoor maintenance. Now is a great time to get fall flowers and flower bulbs in the ground. Neaten up your bushes and trees, too, with pole saws, pruners, and chainsaws. Read on for more on fall planting, fall garden maintenance, and how to transition to your fall lawn and garden.

Fertilize or Patch Your Lawn
Patch up bald spots on your lawn by spreading fresh grass seed. Cooler weather is a great time to fill in brown, dead, or bare places in your yard. However, you should try to keep fallen leaves off freshly seeded areas. New grass seed needs water, sun, and air to grow, and leaf litter can block out the sunlight and air it needs to germinate.

If you're in a northern climate, prepare your cool-season grass for the fall with lawn fertilizer. Rent an aerator to aerate your lawn before adding fertilizer to get the most bang for your buck. An edger gives extra polish to the perimeter of your yard. Water your cool-season lawn regularly and tend to any pesky fall weeds that show up. It'll need different maintenance than warm-season grass, which goes dormant as the weather cools. Taper down watering on warm-season lawns.

Fall Planting
Many colorful fall flowers are annuals, like marigolds, so they last until the end of the year. Hardier plants, like pansies and chrysanthemums, should return in the spring. Always check the plant tag for info. If you want your mums to grow back next year, the label should call them chrysanthemum morifolium, hardy mums, or garden mums. If it says they're an annual or florist mum, you'll need to replant next year.

Succulents and shrubs often flower in the fall, especially if they're already established in the ground or kept in flower pots. Succulent planters allow for easier upkeep of sensitive succulents. Customize the soil to fit these desert plants, as they need a sandy succulent soil mixture.

For shrubs, look after the ones you've got or plant new ones, weather permitting. Get in new plants now, especially if you're in a warmer climate and have time before the frost and cold comes. If you use retaining wall blocks to accent or surround your garden, try giving a finished look with rubber mulch. It'll overwinter just fine and look new longer than bark chips or other mulches that fade with weathering.

Cut and Cover Perennials
In climates where you might have a cold snap here and there, but then it'll warm up above freezing, cover your plants. Protect your garden from frost and freeze damage to extend their season. You can get extra life out of your garden by covering your plants with 5-gallon buckets, tarps, or even painting drop cloths. It'll warm your plants like a greenhouse or blanket, and they'll survive a frost.

This works well when the weather is still transitional, until you're fully into the colder parts of the season. Uncover the plants in the morning when the thermometer goes up again and let them enjoy that autumn sunshine. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, it's time to bid a fond farewell to the garden for the winter.

Put the Garden to Bed
When the sun angle changes and your annuals start looking rougher, it's time to dig up the plants. Northern climates may be putting the garden to bed for the season in October or November. After your vegetables and annuals are done for the year, dig them up, then chop and dispose of the detritus, or dead plant debris. You can let them return their nutrients to the earth, but there are two exceptions: if your plants dealt with blight or if you had a slug problem.

For gardens overrun with snails and slugs or if your plants struggled with disease, put the old plants in a yard waste bag and dispose of them. You don't want to bring the disease or slugs to next year's garden. However, if you have a compost bin in the corner of the yard, feel free to add the snail-riddled plant parts there.

After you've removed the old plants, you have a clean slate. Prepare your garden bed for the spring by rotating the soil with a rototiller or shovel. You want to bring the deeper soil to the surface, send the topsoil lower down, and generally break up the ground. It helps nutrients penetrate and lets the soil rest. It's also an excellent opportunity to test the soil and see what, if any, soil amendments you need. Different crops and plants use different nutrients. Test your soil to see if it's balanced or if you need to replenish certain nutrients that have been depleted.

Indoor Gardening
Gardeners with potted plants can extend their growing season by bringing delicate plants indoors to a sunny window. Indoor gardening allows both outdoor plants to live longer and indoor plants to bring joy into your home. Just turn them regularly to give all those leaves equal sunlight for photosynthesis, and make sure they get enough water. If the pots don't have built-in overflow dishes, be sure to add shallow bowls beneath them to catch any extra water.

Warm the Outdoors with a Fire Pit
Stretch out your fall evenings with a patio heater, outdoor fireplace, or fire pit to take off the chill. No matter if you're looking for outdoor heaters for decks, small patios, or cozy porches, we've got options. All you have to do is pick the one that matches your decor style.

When you're curious about how to build an outdoor fire pit or fireplace, we have the supplies you need. We carry brick pavers, mortar, a wheelbarrow, trowels, and more. Let us help you get this fall project from doing to done. If you'd love some extra heat but would rather not install a gas fire pit or fireplace, we also have patio heaters, including gas, propane, and electric models.

Ease Into Autumn
This fall, shore up your lawn for the season with us. We've got everything you need for putting the garden to bed, leaf cleanup, and restoring nutrients to your soil so it's ready for next spring. Shop our wide variety of outdoor living products and fall garden care in our mobile app, online, or in the aisles of your local store.